A CHRISTIAN GUIDE TO
DOORS, HINGES AND LOCKS

By David Ben Yakov

At first, when you first saw the title, I'll bet that you thought this was some sort of hardware page. If you're a woman you probably mused, "well now, perhaps I can get my husband to fix that stuck or noisy door." If you're a man you might have thought that this article would have come carpentry tips or such. Sorry to disappoint you, but there are spiritual connotations to this article. Let us get started, shall we.

WHAT ARE DOORS ANYWAY:

The door is something that everyone reading this article is familiar with. It is a conveyance in every dwelling, from the lowliest hut to the most grand palace. They come in all shapes and sizes; from simply built wood structures to armor plated vault doors. They also require constant maintenance and monitoring.

Doors are used for privacy. They are put at each bedroom and bathroom entrance as to allow people to bathe, or change garments or to be intimate with others without the prying eyes of others:

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Matthew 6:6

Doors are used as demarcation points. When a stranger knocks on the door we examine who the visitor is, and if we don't want to allow access to them, but still want to have them state their business then we stand in the doorway and talk:

And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of the house, Genesis 43:19

Doors are used as protection from the elements. They keep the wind and rain out as well as keep dirt and other contaminants from entering our abode; while at the same time allowing us to enter and exit from those elements.

A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; [with] lower, second, and third [stories] shalt thou make it. Genesis 6:16

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. Genesis 7:16

Doors are used to keep an enemy outside, protecting us from harm:

But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. Genesis 19:10

THE HISTORY OF DOORS:

To understand the history of doors I can think of no better place than to go to the world's oldest book; The Bible. In it, doors are mentioned as early as Genesis chapter four and and the last mention is Revelation, chapter four.

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee [shall be] his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Genesis 4:7

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

It is interesting that both scriptures above are used when referring to those who were steeped in sin. Cain's in that he was pouting that God had not accepted his sacrifice, and the Church of Laodicea where God is telling a sinning church that he wanted to commune with them if only they'd repent and obey.

Doors are mentioned in Job, the oldest book of the Bible.

Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, [and] went not out of the door? Job 31:34

They had them in Egypt, as evidenced by the command by God for believers to put blood on the doorjamb so that the angel of death could not enter the door.

And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip [it] in the blood that [is] in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that [is] in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.  Exodus 12:22

The only place where doors are not mentioned is before the fall of Adam and Eve. There would have been no need for doors before that time as there was no sin; thus no need for protection from harm. Not only that, but the condition before the fall were so that protection from the elements was not necessary. But take into account that perhaps before the fall of our two progenitors, there probably wasn't even a need for housing.

So we can see that doors have been with us all throughout history and that they have been a necessity in every sense of the word. They protect us from the harm of others; from harm of the elements. They protect our belongings in our homes, offices and even our motor vehicles. In the form of gates they protect our cities and our properties. And, in our banks and other institutions, they protect our financial resources.

UNLOCKED DOORS AND SECURITY ISSUES:

Some of us are security conscious and we take great pains to see that we are protected. We lock our doors and perhaps even install a security system, but we let what should seem obvious slip past our attention. For some, it might be a window that was overlooked and not locked and for some the garage door might be left open; but now I'd like to relate to you an event that took someone by surprise and had both expense and health implications.

Out west I worked with a friend whose name will remain anonymous, just in case his relatives read this document. He had in-laws who lived alongside the Russian River in California. He always referred to them as being sort of peculiar but he loved them anyway. He related to me the following story.

His in-laws had a small pet, a dog or a cat and they installed a pet door in the kitchen door. This is a small door with hinges at the top that swings freely in each direction, allowing the pet to enter and exit. It's more of a convenience device for the pet owner so that they don't have to keep opening and closing the door to allow the pet access to the house.

One night his father in-law woke up and decided to get something to eat or drink from the kitchen. As he approached the kitchen door he noticed that the kitchen light was off but there was noise coming from the kitchen. Thinking it might be his wife in there, he nonchalantly opened the door and turned on the light. Suddenly something small darted at him and bit him and then retreated to a far corner. He noticed two sets of eyes staring at him and realized that two raccoons had entered the house via the pet door, which had not been secured for the night.

Well, with the knowledge that raccoons many times carry rabies he decided that the two bandits could not be allowed to get away. Not thinking clearly (as my friend said was always customary with this family) the man went to his closet and got his twelve gauge shotgun and went into the kitchen where he quickly dispatched the animals to raccoon heaven, or wherever animals go when they die; if they go anywhere. The weapon made a mess of the kitchen, not only with the animals remains being blown all over the room, but also the blasts had decimated the kitchen walls and cabinets from the concussion and the projectiles that emitted from the barrel.

Lesson being here that had the door been secure, none of the events above would have ever happened. Carelessness on the part of the homeowners led to disaster, and had the animals had rabies (which they did not) it could have cost the man his life. In the same way, we believers in Yeshua have to make sure our doors (speaking of spiritual doors) are locked secure.

OUR UNSEEN DOORS:

You might be wondering what I mean when I say unseen doors. You might be thinking to your self that you've never seen an unseen door. But let's look at a couple of things that might make you see what I mean.

There are four ways that I equate to things in this life. Those things are electronic, mechanical, natural and spiritual; but not in that order of course. I just listed them that way because that is the way that I will approach the subjects. These are the four doors that we will look at.

Electronic Hidden Doors:

We're all abuzz these days with electronics and computers. We've become so enhanced by these mediums that when the electricity goes out we fumble around like lost little sheep; wondering if we can cope without our television, lights or internet access. Actually, we're technologically rich but common sense poor.

In the computer realm there are people who are called system engineers and also those who are called programmers. These people design computer systems and write the software that makes our lives oh so comfortable and easy. These folks know that sometimes their creations will malfunction, either through a fault in their systems or software, or through operator error. For this reason, they create what they call "back doors." These back doors are secret passwords or other means that allow them to enter a program or system at any time without any problem. These means are supposed to be for beneficial uses, but some folks, called hackers find these back doors and use them for maliciousness. So, keep this in mind as we move on.

Mechanical Hidden Doors:

There have been so many mechanical back doors through the ages that we will only focus on one type. I think that most of us are familiar with the secret passages in old houses, castles and palaces. We've seen them in the movies, mostly in horror flicks or stories about medieval intrigue. These passages, which are only known of by the owners of the buildings, are used to navigate in secret either between rooms or as escape routes. Any way you look at them, they are hidden doors.

Natural Hidden Doors:

When I talk about natural hidden doors, I refer to things in the natural world that aren't built by human hands. God, in all His wisdom has created some very interesting and wonderful things. Some hidden doors that I can immediately think of are cave entrances. Some caves are under water and are only accessible by diving, or perhaps when the tide goes out far enough to expose them. Other caves are hidden by waterfalls and still others are hidden by something as simple as brush or trees growing in front of them.

But the one hidden door that I would like to look at in nature is the one that is manufactured by the trap door spider. This ingenious little creature digs a burrow for itself and then manufactures a door that it makes out of items that are indigenous to it's area. The door even has a hinge that the spider fashions to close behind it. It's disguise is very convincing, so much so that it thrives on it's unsuspecting victims. When a small insect gets close to the trap door, the spider springs out of the door, grabs the victim and bring it into his lair; the door snapping closed behind it.

Spiritual Hidden Doors:

Our lives are like houses. We open them to things that are both pleasant and unpleasant. When we were yet unsaved we let all sorts of things into our houses. We let in things like lust, greed, lying, covetness and all sorts of other things. Those things set up shop in our lives (our houses) and we lived with them and to some degree became fond roommates with them.

But for those of us who are Born Again, there came a time when we asked the King of All Righteousness to come and abide in our hearts. When Yeshua (Jesus) entered our lives and hearts he evicted those residents and then He swept, dusted, mopped and scrubbed our lives. Our houses, which once were grimy, stained and tainted with all kinds of dirt, by His cleaning became as white as snow; clean and without spot.

Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

He then closed the doors that allowed the vile things to enter and gave us the keys to the locks on the doors. So why did He give us the keys? It's pretty simple when you think of it. If He would have cleaned everything up and then locked the doors and kept the keys then we would be prisoners. People who are forced into subjection never love their captors but resent them and hate them. Giving us the keys puts us in a position of trust, which is something that a friend will do.

But we have to admit that having those keys, even thought it proves His trust for us, will sometimes lead us to stumble. There are times when we're sitting in our nice clean house and we hear what sounds like a friendly knock on the back door. We peek out the curtain, or perhaps peephole and see that it is sin crouching at the door. We speak to that sin and tell it to go away and most of the time we are able to resist the temptation to open the door. But, there are yet times when we hear the voice from the other side of the door, saying in a kind but overwhelming manner, "oh come on, let me in. We'll have fun for a while, you'll repent and I'll leave back through this door." So we open the door and entertain the all too familiar stranger. And sometimes that entertainment is fun or enjoyable to our flesh and we allow it to stay for an extended period of time. We then get convicted by our Lord and force the sin out the door.

When the sin has finally gone we see the results. The floor seems dirty, the rug has a couple of, what look like stains and perhaps there is the appearance of soiled places on the walls. And even those things aren't even there, the fact that we entertained the sin lets us see part of what the house once looked like. We don't see the tidiness that was once there, although it still remains. We see our memories, our past and we cry out to have a clean house again. It's then that our faithful friend, our Lord Yeshua comes and tells us that we've been seeing what amounts to a mirage. Sure, we entertained a stranger, but the house is still clean. It's been cleaned so that it can never be dirty again.

Gaps In the Doorjamb:

I live in North Carolina and those of us who live here know that in the winter we're quick to find out that there is no such thing as a completely sealed door. Sure, the door might be locked, but there is always some part of the seal that allows a chill to come through and into the house. If the heat was not on in the house then the cold would eventually conquer the house. So, although the cold tries to invade, heating stems that tide.

I equate the above to the way that our enemies try to take advantage of some of our doors not being fully sealed. We've all done things or gotten ourselves involved in not so good practices in the past and sometimes they try to invade our lives by way of loose seals. Picture your front door, locked to the hilt, but envision a couple of fingers or perhaps a hand trying to reach through the gaps, trying to gain entry. It will never be able to gain entry, especially if the door remains locked, but it still tries.

Now why do I write about such things? Well, I do believe that we've allowed things into our lives both before we were Christians and even after, which we've repented of that still try to attach a hold to us. We fight an enemy who knows our weaknesses and will always try to appeal to them, either through fear or temptation.

Some might say that what I've said might denote perhaps a lack of faith or maybe a troubled walk with Jesus. I have to say though that after polling many Christians who I consider to be very strong in their faith, that these things are fairly common. Even the Apostle Paul, who had personal contact with Yeshua, wrote Romans, Chapter Seven, which all should read and understand.

My Little Story:

If you've read this on other parts of the website then please bear with me. When I was a very young person I opened a door that affected me for many years. And, this is a door where the enemy tries to get his fingers through the gaps, but has been unsuccessful.

I always looked up to my dad. He was my hero all throughout my childhood and to some extent even till the day that he died. Sure he had his faults, like any dad has, but his good points far outweighed his bad ways.

Dad was never the type who got involved in sports, although my mother tried to point him in that direction for my sake. He liked things that required thinking, such as investigative study through science and even into the esoteric. While the other fathers were taking their sons to Little League or Pop Warner Football, my dad was showing me mechanical things or showing me how to use a microscope or telescope. He was fascinated by model rocketry and always wanted to build radio controlled airplanes. We would constantly go into the mountains of New Jersey and New York to look for fossils, his goal to find a trilobite, which sad to say he never did find. So, my youth was unique and I feel, enriching.

One of dad's favorite subjects was science fiction. He was a Star Trek fanatic and I think that when he watched the program he dreamed of being on the Enterprise, exploring those strange new worlds, and going where no man had gone before. To him, watching that show was akin to a Christian's reverence during a church service. So it would only seem to reason that he became interested in UFO's. As a matter of fact, if my memory serves me correctly, the UFO interest came before the Star Trek one.

Of course, like every young boy who respects his father, I wanted to become just like my dad. It seemed like every week dad would bring home two or three new UFO magazines and pour through them. He was not a church goer and was looking for truth, but little did he know that he was looking in the wrong direction, and pointing me the same way. Dad never denied me access to the books and magazines and when I was very young I would just look at the pictures, but as I matured I would read the articles too. What I read gave me a feeling of both fear and awe and I was hooked.

Now from a young age I was told that if one wanted to look for trouble they didn't have to look very hard because of all the things in life, trouble seems the easiest to find. Because of my dabbling in the UFO realm things started to manifest to me. I had opened the door wide for the forces that are really behind the UFO phenomena. So I shouldn't be surprised when one night, while sleeping in my basement bedroom down at the Jersey Shore, I saw a UFO in the night sky. I awoke to a strange feeling that something was not quite right so I headed for the only window in the room. I observed a large globe object that I originally mistook for the moon. Then I saw another object farther to the south and determined from the craters and such that it was the moon. The first object sort of just hung in the sky like it was hovering over something. I went back to bed and pulled the covers over my head, thinking that the thin material would protect me from the alien abduction that would soon follow. I lay in my bed, paralyzed and although I tried so hard to scream for my dad, no words would come out of my mouth. I'm not sure, because of all the years that separate my life now from what it was then, but I don't dismiss the idea that I prayed for God to help me. Pretty soon the night terror subsided and I heard the sound of two jet fighters flying very low and very fast in the direction of the object. I fell asleep but I made sure to tell my dad about the event. I would have dismissed it had it not been for a neighbor who talked to dad and said that he was actually buzzed by some objects as he drove to work early that morning. Wow, they were real, and so was my experience. This door was opened wide and beckoning me to enter and I heeded it's call.

Things really went on a downward spin because I went through that door. I stopped going to church. I saw it as a dead thing, much akin to a social club, which it probably was seeing that it was an Episcopal church which had not seen the light of the Holy Spirit for probably many years. The UFO's had made themselves apparent to me as opposed to some man dressed in fancy garb who recited prewritten prayers and talked about God as though he really didn't believe in Him either. I tried the Quiga Board thing and sure it moved to different letters, but it was gibberish and I half thought that someone else who was playing was moving the piece around. I now know differently, and I know that it was a door that I opened.

You know, the only thing that I can compare my downward spin, and my walk through so many doors, is to compare it to an old television program called "Get Smart." In the beginning of the program, the character was seen walking through what was a secret hallway. As he progressed a door would open and then shut behind him. Then another door would open and shut until he reached the deep dark recesses of the building. After I entered the UFO door it closed behind me and the next door opened up, which was the door of evolution. I took to evolution right away because I saw what I thought was evidence for the progression of life throughout billions of years of mutations. Fossils were something tangible that I could hold in my hand.

Once I had walked through the door of evolution it closed behind me, denying me escape should I have desired to escape. Then a new door opened, the door of alcohol and drugs. I walked through that door because, although presented with so called evidence of evolution, there was still a void in my life that had to be fill. After all, I was denying the one true God and I had to ease my conscience. I decided to do that through a drug stupor.

Then, in an attempt to allow some spirituality into my life I started reading books by Ruth Montgomery. She was a self proclaimed prophet who said that she got her messages from spiritual guides. These guides claimed that there was no hell and everyone was on a road to heaven. I liked that thought; no accountability. I could go out and live as I wished and would still see God. Yet another door breached in the wrong direction.

So there I was, in the deep recesses of a building called sin, closed in and trapped by four of five very large and immovable doors that wouldn't let me escape. I knew that my actions were wrong, but how would I escape? For years I had some very good friends who tried to tell me that there was another door that I could walk through. It was a beautiful door, gilded in gold and studded with precious jewels. It was a door that led to freedom and liberty; one that, once I had entered, I would never want to leave. But there was one catch to getting through that door. I had to become friends with the one who had the key to that door. I had to confess that my choices of doors prior to this one were always bad and that I had a knack for picking bad doors. I had to tell this doorkeeper that His door is what I wanted, and to ask Him to allow me entrance, and to believe that he was the only doorkeeper that could do that. So, I looked behind me and saw the doors that were rusted shut and full of corruption and I decided to ask the doorkeeper to be my savior and let me into His abode. And as with the other doors, once His door remained shut it didn't open again. There was no exit sign on it, but who would want to exit anyway because behind His door was eternal beauty and everlasting majesty.

But there have been times during this new adventure where the keepers of the old doors beckon me to partake in their corruption. They can project through the new door some of the memories of the old doors. There have been times for instance, where I experience the same pre-abduction fears that I did in that bedroom many years ago. They tried to project the dark terror and paralyzing fear, and it usually happened when I was moving even farther into the beautiful territory of my new Lord. But one day I noticed something. I noticed that when the projection were sent to me from the dark side, I only had to mention the name of Yeshua, and the dark forces could not stand when that name is announced.

So Many Gap Violators:

As I mentioned earlier in this document, when we are saved, Yeshua cleans house and gives us the keys to the doors or the house. Our responsibility is to be a good steward with the keys. While His Salvation of our lives is free, and grants us liberty, we still have charges to uphold. And as His Word so eloquently put it:

...For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Luke 12:48

Since His gift to us of Salvation is so precious and so priceless the very least we can do is to obey what He tells us to do. All throughout the ages God has strived with mankind and His object lesson was Israel. The way that Israel tested God's patience and the oppression they had suffered as a result of their pushing God to His envelope of forgiveness should teach us many things.

Every time that Israel broke a commandment by committing idolatry, or mistreating the widow or orphan, or ignoring the Levites, there were consequences. They opened doors through which God allowed their enemies to infiltrate them and in the worse case scenarios, they were conquered and enslaved. The effects of sin do the same thing to Believers today.

So, what are some of the things that I see people doing that open doors to the enemy. They are varied and many in number, and I will only touch on some of them. I pray that if I miss any that are pertinent to the reader, the Holy Spirit will reveal it to the reader in question.

Horoscopes:

You would not believe how many Christians open their daily paper and read the nonsense that is written in the daily horoscope. They see it as a harmless little amusement. I've been told, concerning their activities, "it's harmless and they really don't mean anything. I just do it for fun." So why do you think that God told Israel not to mess with these things? He knows that it's a back door that can lead to worse conditions. Astrology is an abomination to the Lord.

There shall not be found among you [any one] that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, [or] that useth divination, [or] an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.For all that do these things [are] an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. Deuteronomy 18:10-13

And if you want to see the consequences:

Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from [these things] that shall come upon thee. Isaiah 47:13

If you're a Christian and have not been active with horoscopes since your conversion, but are still being harrassed by demonic forces, perhaps you need to think back and see if you were involved before you got saved. You need to renounce that involvement and ask God to cover you in that area. Then you must fight the devil and he will flee from you. And if you are saved and still read horoscopes for amusement, think of what the word amusement means. To muse means to think or ponder something of importance or intrinsic value. Many times when the letter "a" is placed in front of a word it makes the word mean the opposite. For instance, the word atypical means something is not normally typical. So, the word amuse means to act without thinking. If you want amusement throw out the horoscopes and go to the carnival.

Quiga Boards:

When a person gets saved they usually avoid the Quiga Board. The Holy Spirit seems to have a built in defense warning mechanism in the Believer. But if you were involved with them, even in a novel fashion, you should renounce that activity. I've talked with more believers who, after they realized their past involvement with the Quiga, and have recanted that involvement have been delivered from demonic oppression.

Other Heathen Occult Activities:

Many who have been saved by Jesus were once involved in strange occult activities. They're all listed in the scripture above. If you're being harassed perhaps you might want to renounce that activity. Resisting the force that's giving you angst will in time cause it to leave, but only through pleading the blood of Yeshua and persistent  resistance.

Pornography:

The debasement of the opposite sex through viewing images of their nakedness and perhaps their sexual acts is one of the most difficult back doors to close. I think what makes it so difficult is that we're bombarded with it day in and day out. And the ladies have just as hard time overcoming it as the men do, if the truth be told. We see loosely clad people on the television, on billboards when we drive to work and some of our coworkers feel that they have to dress in near prostitute attire while at work. It's akin to hiring an alcoholic to work in a whiskey factory. Where other doors are knocked on gently when the sin tries to coax itself in, the sin of pornography places a battering ram at the back door and tries to bust the door down.

I've found it successful to try to go back as far as I can in my memory and see when the first viewing occurred. With me, it was when I was riding my bicycle home one day when I was around twelve years old. Some jerk, who I'm convinced was directed by the devil, left a bag of magazines and books right out in a parking lot. It had to be a plant. Anyway, I perused through the material, brought it home and read it like it was gospel. I didn't know the Lord personally at the time and it the effect was like a garden watered with some super fertilizer. The sin blossomed in very fertile pubescent soil. It ruined me for many years.

But the important thing was to recognize when the seed was planted; and to realize that I helped to water it. I mean, I could have trashed the stuff, but I didn't. Then I recanted ever even picking up the material and also as a side note asked the Lord to save and forgive the man who left it sitting there, ready for some teenage kid to find and use. And ever since then, the battering ram isn't at the back door anymore, but I do have to rebuke the small voice that still asks for entry.

Drug Abuse:

My work is in the pharmaceutical business. I am the first to admit that drugs are a necessary part of life. If used correctly, and as intended by your physician, then there are no problems with medications.

A lot of drugs are mind altering. These are the drugs that relieve pain, or the ones that raise or lower moods or reactions. These drugs that are the most abused. I'm not proud of the fact that I've had personal experience with these things. Before I became a Christian I abuse marijuana and mood elevating drugs. So, because of this, I can personally testify about the back door that these drugs present.

Simply, any time a person takes a mind altering drug without cause to do so, they open themselves to problems. If you don't have control of your mind, and you willfully give up control, then something or someone is going to step in and take control. When I was at the height of my drug abuse era I was a difficult person to get along with. In effect, I was not me. Whatever resided within me or maybe around me was hateful, prideful and felt unconquerable. I'm always thankful to a man who we called Crazy George, who I feel God sent into my life to show me how rotten I really was. George was a Vietnam Veteran and he was a tough guy. One day I was really berating George and he looked at me and said, "what have I done to make you hate me?" At that moment I realized that I was a pitiful excuse for human existence and started my quest to know the truth. Not long after that, my cousin brought me some angel's dust in the guise it was cocaine and after snorting it I looked in the mirror and saw myself as if I was dead. That's when I drastically reduced the drug usage. Within a year from then I didn't do drugs at all anymore, but only with the help of Yeshua.

And now to answer the question you all have been wondering. No, I don't have the slightest urge to abuse drugs anymore. This is one door that Yeshua shut and welded tight at that time. It's actually been a good witnessing tool to those who knew me before because they can't believe that I'm involved in pharmacy after my past, but it allows me to share Yeshua, much to their chargrin, but they are the ones who brought up the question, right?

Unwholesome Music:

I grew up in what some would call the Golden Age of Rock Music. It was back when the Rolling Stones were very popular along with the WHO and Pink Floyd. I really don't want to pick entirely on Rock music, but it is the medium that had the most effect on me. Today I suppose that some would make the same equation with New Wave or perhaps RAP music. Simply put, if it doesn't glory God, then it glorifies man.

Now I've noticed something about me and Rock music. When I listen to it I tend to change in character. Let's look at the Rolling Stones. When I was growing up, listening to them made a person cool. They were into drugs and so was I and I could really identify with them. They were me and I was them. They were rebellious and so was I. And it was rumored that they worshipped the Satan, and since I wasn't a Believer in Messiah, I in effect worshipped Satan too, unbeknownst to me.

So, earlier this year I was listening to Conservative Talk Radio, which is my favorite thing to listen to on the airwaves. There is a certain show host who likes to use Stones music when he segways in and out of commercial time. I noticed that when he would play the Stone's songs I would get a cocky attitude. It was almost like I was a rebellious teenager again, looking for those who would try to make eye contact with me so that I could ask them if they had some sort of problem. Right about then I heard our Lord tell me two words, "OPEN DOOR." and I picked up on it right away and turned off the radio. His message was so clear and to the point that it could not be ignored.

Mammon:

Mammon is the Biblical term for money or wealth. Many scholars believe that there is actually a demon called "Mammon," who is responsible for causing people to get rich and then letting them stumble over their money and finally leads them into ruin when their money is no longer there. Some however continue to prosper with mammon right to the day they die.

Back in the 1980's we saw Mammon at work in the Body of Christ. This was the era when prosperity teaching was becoming popular. You know the sort of people; the ones who teach that if you give then God is obligated to return your giving ten fold. It was the era when we saw the downfall of such people as Jim and Tammy Baker, Jimmy Swaggart and others.

Aside from these national Christian leaders, I've personally been around when local pastors (in California) have let mammon into the back door. Mammon usually knocks at the back door and announces that he can help to make money to support needy causes. The trouble usually starts when mammon is in high gear and the keeper of the door sees how easy mammon allows the pastor to make money for the cause. Then mammon convinces the person that they should take some money for all the hard work they've been doing for the cause. After a short while the money for the person becomes more important than the money for the cause and mammon has caused pilfering and embezzlement on the part of the person. Then, when the the control of mammon has come to its zenith in that person or persons it will usually cause a split in a church. The one with mammon will usually accuse those who leave the flock for righteous reasons of the same ills that they have or maybe worse. In our case, we were called people who judge and Pharisees.

If the person who possess mammon, or should I say is possessed by mammon is found out, they leave the church in a shambled heap that has to be built back up again while the person with mammon usually goes to another location where they can start the whole process all over again. Mammon always seems to start with good intentions, but like the saying goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

In Closing:

We've seen that there are a lot of things working against us. Satan has many ways that he tries to use to bring God's people down. But with that in mind, let's look at a few scriptures of encouragement.

God is working on constantly, and we'll not be finished till we go to be with Jesus:

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ: Philippians 1:6

God won't let you be tempted beyond what you can endure:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]. 1 Corinthians 10:13
 

Obedience will counteract the attempts at entry into our lives:

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee [shall be] his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Genesis 4:7

Know your adversary and know God's battle plan. Wear your armor:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:10-18

When we err and confess, He forgives our sins:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

So I beg and implore you to ask the Lord to show you what doors might be opened in your life. I've by no means revealed all the doors that are possible and they're probably number the same or more than all the people on the earth. But Yeshua is faithful and true to not only show us the doors, but also to help shut them tight. I pray that you all will be blessed with a much closer walk with our Lord until the day we're all called home.